30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 1

While reading old posts on my friend Neely's blog, A Complete Waste of Makeup, I saw that a while back she did a blog challenge. SO, I thought, in an attempt to blog EVERY DAY in the month of August, I would do this blog challenge (you know, for those days when I have writer's block and can't think of anything to write). 

Oh, real quick, since I'm talking about Neely, you HAVE to check out the contest she is having. She is giving away a year subscription to BirchBox. BirchBox sends you samples each month of different beauty products, such as makeup, perfume, hand creams, and hair products. For more info on BirchBox, click here.

 

Click here for the details on Neely's contest. Tell her I sent ya! :)

Okay, so, on to the 30 Day Blog Challenge. 

Day 1: Introduce with a recent picture and 15 interesting facts

Well, since I stole got the idea from Neely,  I'm posting a picture of us from the Brad Paisley concert this past Saturday night (we were able to meet up and say hi). **side note: I will be recapping the Brad Paisley concert as soon as I upload all the pictures from my camera.**

Me and Neely

Interesting facts about me (I know, some of these have been posted before on my blog, but I have new followers, so these will be new to them!)

1. I'm the aunt to 20 nieces and nephews and 4 great-nephews. I'm what you call a "bonus baby" so my five siblings are somewhat older than me. Because of this, I have nieces and nephews close to my age, and some of them are married with kids. Yes, I'm a great-aunt! I post a lot of pictures of my great-nephews C and E!

2. I don't like Starbuck's. Now, to be fair, I don't like any kind of coffee (iced or hot). I also don't really care for espressos. I know they have other beverages, but I can't bring myself to pay $4 for a drink. Call me cheap (go on, I dare you). If I want hot chocolate, I'll pay $1.50 for a 12 pack of Swiss Miss (or I'll ask my Twitter mom, #MamaT, for some of her homemade hot chocolate mix!) :) And if I want iced tea, I'll either make my own or get some at Chick Fil-A or McAlister's.

3. I want to play a dead body on CSI (or any other crime show I watch). I can't act, but I'm sure not a lot of acting ability is needed to play a dead body. And if Greg from CSI could be the one examining me, that would be even better! ;) #LeggoMyGreggo

4. I don't like milk. Now, I can drink chocolate milk but I don't like plain milk. Side note. I'm a chocolate milk snob. I only drink the kind made with NesQuik powder, I can't handle the "pre-made" stuff. Blek.

5. I am on Twitter entirely too much. As of right now, I have tweeted 18,844 times. What is really sad is that I've only been "seriously" tweeting for just over a year. I might need professional help. FYI, if you are on Twitter, follow me here. Warning: I tweet a lot about sports (mainly Rangers baseball).

6. I am hesitant to give up my real books for an electronic reader. I understand that having a Nook/Kindle/eReader is great and I totally see the benefits of having one, BUT there is something about the feel and smell of an actual book that I just don't want to give up.

7. I have many celebrity crushes (most of them baseball players). Right now my biggest baseball crush is Craig Gentry of the Rangers. #TeamGentry

8. There are times I feel that I'm an 80 year old trapped in a 25-year old body. Okay, so I'm not 25, but can you at least lie to me and tell me I look like I'm 25? Think about it: I cross stitch. My favorite actor is Dick Van Dyke. I love Turner Classic Movies. I watch The Waltons reruns (I may or may not have seasons 1-5 on DVD). I would rather watch a Jimmy Stewart, Audrey Hepburn or Cary Grant movie over most new releases any day.

9. I love peanut butter. And I mean I really love it. I put it on my pancakes (my whole family does this, I didn't realize until I was older that wasn't "normal"). I have also been known to eat peanut butter out of the jar. 

10. I cannot stand the game Monopoly. It goes back to my childhood when I was forced to play the game for hours on end. To this day I won't play it. Don't even ask me.

11. I have naturally curly hair, but I straighten it. Don't tell me if you had curly hair you would leave it curly. No you wouldn't, you would straighten it too.

12. I'm a really picky eater. No, I mean REALLY picky. I don't like seafood. I don't like really spicy food. I only eat soup when I'm sick. I don't eat cake or pie. Now, it's not that I don't like cake or pie, I just don't eat it. I also don't like my food touching. Yeah, I'm weird. But I can't handle it when juice from the green beans runs into the mashed potatoes or bread.

13. When I was 17 years old, I signed a True Love Waits commitment card.

14. I am on a mission to see every MLB ballpark in North America. I have a ways to go. I've only seen the Ballpark in Arlington, Minute Maid Park, old Yankee Stadium and Turner Field in Atlanta. Road trip anyone?

15. I want to be an amateur tornado chaser. No really, I do. If I had been better in Math and Science, I would have studied meteorology. But alas, my strong subjects were English and History. 

Hope everyone has a good day! Happy Monday!!

XOXO!

A Tuesday Helping of Ramblings

Did you ever have a lemonade stand when you were a kid? I remember one time some friends and I set up a lemonade stand (convinced we were going to make thousands of dollars- we were like 11 years old at the time). I think we only made about $5 (which was split four ways). But still, you don't see a lot of lemonade stands anymore. Kinda sad. 

For those wondering, yes, my train of thought does have a caboose with this topic (I'll get into my rant of how mad I am that cabooses were taken off trains another day). My beautiful and creative friend Vic over at Freckles and Fudge has started making lemonade stands for blogs. What is a lemonade stand? Go check out her page here for all the info. She is sweet enough to let me proudly display the lemonade stand she made for me here on my page! You rock girl!

Created by Vic at The Lemonade Blogs

My sweet, lovely friend Katie over at Words by Katie is having a "Favorites Giveaway" in honor of her blog reaching 100 followers! Go check out her post here for details on how to enter and win. Tell her that I sent ya! :)

Katie's blog giveaway! Picture courtesy of Words by Katie

For those who haven't noticed the countdown at the top of my blog, it's almost Rangers Opening Day!! Can you believe it? I know I can't. Today the Rangers showed off some of the new "improvements" around the Ballpark, including the new scoreboard. It's beautiful!

I don't drink beer, but they have a new way of filling beer cups now. That means the lines won't be as long! I wonder if they will fill Dr Pepper the same way? I also heard a rumor of a three pound giant pretzel (my personal favorite Ballpark snack!)

For those wanting to know the new Rangers slogan for this year, here it is...

And last, but certainly NOT least, a few weeks ago I went to visit my BFF Mandy and her new baby. I am finally getting around to posting pictures (I know, I'm a slacker, so sorry!!) Here is Aunt Rachel and baby Effie. She is so tiny!! I think my purse weighed more than her. She is so beautiful too. I can't wait to see them all again. I am so happy for Mandy and her husband Andrew (who will not admit it, but is slowly getting wrapped around Effie's little finger!!) ;)

Yes, my first picture with baby Effie, and I'm wearing a Rangers shirt. Are you surprised? :)

Not to brag, but I was able to get her to stop crying when she was handed to me. Being the aunt to 16 nieces and nephews (and 4 great-nephews), I'm a professional when it comes to taking care of babies! :)

Hope that everyone has a great day!! We are finally seeing some rain here in Dallas, we are in desperate need of it so we welcome it with open arms (as long as it stops by Friday for Opening Day!!) Right now the forecast is calling for partly sunny skies, and a high of 77 for the start of baseball season here in Texas. Wahoo!!

XOXO!!

TGIF!!!!

Happy Friday my friends! Are you as tired as I am? It's been a long week. I really shouldn't complain. I brought it upon myself. One of these days I'll realize I'm probably no longer young enough to stay out late every night and then be able to function on 5 or 6 hours of sleep the next day. **sigh** And yes, you probably have guessed that it's Rangers related. :) What can I say? I'm a fan! I realized when I was at the game on Monday it was the first Rangers game I had been to since July 23. I KNOW! I can't believe I went A MONTH without going to a game. Granted, they had a pretty long road trip mixed up in that (and also I went to Atlanta on vacation), but still. It seems like I was going at least once a week or every other week for a while. I made up for it  this week though. I went Monday night, Tuesday night, last night and I'm going tomorrow night as well. Well, I'm actually going tomorrow for the Mercy Me pre-game concert, but I'll stay for the game as well! :) (For the inquiring minds that want to know why I haven't gone to a game every night, Wednesday night I had dinner with friends at this WONDERFUL Brazilian steakhouse and tonight some friends and I are having a "Girl's Night Out" and going to dinner then we are going to see the new movie Takers.) I know Paul Walker isn't the greatest actor out there, but he's nice to look at! ;)

Last night we had fun at the game (despite the loss- but they did make a good attempt to come back. We still took three out of four from the Twins, I won't complain). Like I mentioned yesterday, it was my friend Monica's birthday. It was also Elvis Andrus' birthday (he's the Rangers shortstop). I was off work early yesterday and made signs for us (I hadn't made a sign to hold at a baseball game since I was 17). I made one for me that said "Happy Birthday Elvis" and I made one for Monica that said "It's my birthday too!" I think she was a little hesitant at first to hold it up, but she did (I may or may not have had to twist her arm a bit).

Our signs- they were shown on TV!

As my faithful readers know, I'm good at sneaking down closer during the game (I wait until the 5th inning. I figure if you aren't there by the 5th inning, you aren't showing up. Why let a perfectly good close seat go to waste?) We were able to get about 7 rows back from the field (if you are a Rangers fan, we were 7 rows right behind Rangers owners Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan). We were pretty close to the on deck circle and the next time Elvis was up to bat, Monica and I yelled at him. I never thought he would hear us, but he looked over at us. We held up our signs and he smiled and gave us "the nod". Everyone around us said it was pretty cool he saw the signs. That's what I love about baseball games, you make new friends every game you go to! :)

 

A view from our new seats. The birthday boy Elvis up to bat, Michael Young waiting on deck.

Sorry for rambling, almost done, I promise. Anyways, towards the end of the game, a foul ball was thrown into the stands by the bat boy. The security guard in our row caught it (he's actually the security guard "protecting" Chuck and Nolan). He was trying to find someone to give it to, so I started pointing at Monica. I was like, it's her birthday. He saw her sign and gave it to her. Wahoo!! I told her that was part of my present to her since I made the sign. She laughed! :)

Foul ball!

Okay, I'm done with baseball talk for today!! :) Before I get to my answers for Five Question Friday,  I have a few friends that need your vote for their videos (thankfully they are for two different contests!) Mama M. over at My Little Life (our gracious Five Question Friday hostess) entered a contest for Tasteful Selections. If you could please visit her Youtube video here and click "like", that will help her out tremendously! Voting for her contest ends today!! Please pass the link along to your friends and bloggers! :) FYI, in order to "like" a video on Youtube, you have to have a Youtube account. It's free and only takes about 10 seconds to sign up. Okay, maybe 20 seconds.

Second, my friend Lauren entered a video in the Taylor Morrison's Homemade Memories contest. If you go to the site here, her video is on week two. Please watch and vote! If you enter your vote, you are eligible to be put in a drawing for a prize as well! Information is on the website.

Thank you friends for your help, I know Mama M. and Lauren appreciate it!!

Now, onto my answers!

1. How many pets do you have?

At this time, I don't have a pet. I'm hoping to one day have a house and I plan to get a dog or two then. I love pugs, so I want one of those. I have recently developed a love for bulldogs so I think I want one of those too!

Cute bulldog video!

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be?

Wow, I've always heard you don't know what it's like to be someone until you walk around in their shoes for a day. I would say some famous actress or singer, just to see what the "luxury life" is really like. Even though it sounds all wonderful, I bet there are times they wish they were just an "average every day person". If I had to pick an actress, I would pick the one playing Shemar Moore's love interest in either his TV show or a movie! ;)

3. What is your favorite money saving tip?

Don't go to Kohl's just because you have a coupon!! :) In my head I'm thinking, "well, they destroyed a poor tree to create this coupon. I owe it to that poor tree to at least go to Kohl's and check it out." I know, a terrible reason to go shopping. But that is how my brain works (are you really surprised??) :)

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up?
Well, I don't have kids yet, but I think when I do I will want them to be whatever they want to be. I don't want them living out my dreams, I want them to live their own. But if they could be something that makes a lot of money so they could take care of me in my old age, that would be lovely! ;)

5. What is your favorite quote?

I have two that I really like.

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." - Mother Teresa

"Pick the day. Enjoy it-to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come. The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present- and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future." -Audrey Hepburn

Have a great weekend friends!! If you are a new follower, please leave your site address in a comment below! I'd love to follow back!! :)